Unifying with Food

Rabbi Sion (Zion) Levy a"h, was the Chief Rabbi of Panama for 57 years, during which time he encouraged thousands of people to increase their level of religious observance. 

I read that the first thing he worked on was kashrus, probably for both spiritual and practical reasons.  What caught my attention in an article about him is that it said he promoted kashrus as a way of unifying the community, because if everyone adopted kashrus, at least in the home, the whole community would feel comfortable eating in each other's homes.

We have halachos that are designed for the express purpose of keeping us from socializing with non-Jews such as bishul Yisrael, pas Yisrael, yayin nesech, while our kosher laws unify us.

So what happens ... frum Jews undertake standards of kashrus that differ from one another! This goes so far that even among frum parents and children, and among frum siblings, there are different standards, such of which are mutually exclusive (for example, if one will only eat a certain shechita and another will only eat another shechita). 

There have been individuals who took it upon themselves to eat nothing outside their own homes, out of kashrus concerns. 

I think this is quite sad.  Even more than sad.  It seems wrong that our piety puts barriers up between us.  Many decades ago, it may have been necessary to have a safeguard like that (not to eat anywhere but at home), but today? It treats fellow Jews like non-Jews and that is troubling to me.

What is the solution though, for those who have kashrus standards that others don't have? I suppose it's a question for a rav.  My approach is to eat at the homes and simchas of relatives and friends if they are known to be reliably kosher people.  If they serve items (it's usually the vegetables that need checking that are my concern) that I'm not sure about, I will either not eat them or might ask what they are using.  I don't like asking because I am uncomfortable quizzing frum people about their kashrus; it seems insulting.  Other solutions are welcome.

Lecture Roundup II

Charlie Harary on achdus -

He says we think unity is smiling at others and doing acts of kindness which are great, but not achdus. Achdus is when the name on the front, “G-d”, is more important than the name on the back.  This is a sports reference to the jerseys that hockey (and other sports) players wear with their personal name on the back and the team they're playing for, on the front. 

He told the story of Herb Brooks, the US Olympic hockey coach  of 1980 whose team won the gold.  Brooks worked hard to take a bunch of guys from different places and meld them into a team whose focus was on winning for the USA. 

Every day we put on a jersey called G-d, says Harary, and the only question we ask all day is whether the name on the front is more important than the name on the back. Is it all about me or all about Hashem?

When G-d becomes more important, then I don't have to like you or accept you, because I recognize that we need every single Jew to represent Hashem in this world!  Acceptance of others is not what it's about. There is a reason why we're here and we are being used by G-d to represent Him to the world.

 

No matter who we are, no matter the name on the back, we all have the same thing on the front.  G-d.

Lecture Roundup

Since, as of this writing, we still don't have the third Beis Ha'Mikdash, it's still timely to post a summary of some of the points various lecturers made recently about sinas chinam and unity.

R' Akiva Rutenberg - He said sinas chinam is apathy; I don't think so.

R' David Fohrman did an excellent 5 part video presentation here in which he maintains, based on the Kamtza-Bar Kamtza story, that sinas chinam is disproportionate anger.  Not convinced that's what sinas chinam is.

R' Benzion Klatzko - He spoke bluntly about our lack of unity.  Unlike many other speakers who extolled the unity of the Jewish people over the past two months, he says he doesn't see that the Sefardic-Ashkenazic, religious-secular, Chassidic-non-Chassidic divide has been bridged.  He highlighted and praised the dozens of chesed organizations that we have but said he didn't see unity at the Siyum Ha'Shas, i.e. he did not see it bringing together all kinds of Jews. 

I agree with him.  So much chesed is done and it crosses lines, i.e. we don't only do chesed for our "own kind," but there still is very much that feeling of "us" and them."  Who is us? Whatever group you affiliate with.  And who is them? The other people out there.  I wrote about it here

to be continued

Mickey Zivan, Roommate Of Ayal Yifrach

This is a touching tribute to Ayal Yifrach, one of the kidnapped and murdered boys, by a 20 year old roommate of his:

here

Are they "Our Boys" or "Their Boys"?

Jews all over the world care about the three kidnapped boys.  I am sure of that.

That being said, I wonder how many people saw the headlines on Friday about "yeshiva boys kidnapped," and had a certain image in their minds which was dispelled when they saw what the boys look like. 

Oh.  Yeshiva boys don't necessarily wear black hats. 

I wondered: what if the boys' pictures showed them wearing black hats and white shirts? You know, "our kind" of yeshiva boys ... whether "yeshivish" or "chassidish." Would our personal reaction be any different? Would our community's reaction be any different?

I saw the photos of the mass tefilla at the Kosel.  I saw lots and lots of hatless people.  Knitted kippa wearing people.  Almost no black hats.  Where were the all "black hats" when this asifa took place? Why weren't they at the Kosel too? Because "their" black-hatted leaders did not tell them to go? Why not?

Even as we unite in praying for the safe return of the boys, I see disunity amongst us.  Unity and disunity.

Jews Helping Jews

In the spring issue of OU's Jewish Action magazine, there was a special section with articles about Hurricane Sandy.  The theme was how Jews from all walks of life came together with beautiful acts of chessed.  The link is: here

There is a follow-up article from the same magazine about how to foster achdus when we don't have crises to deal with: here